French citizen kidnapped in Chad taken into Sudan

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - A French citizen kidnapped in Chad on Thursday near the border with Sudan's Darfur region has been taken into Sudan, a senior Chadian security source said on Friday.

The Frenchman, who has not been identified, was kidnapped south of Abeche, a mining area about 800 km (500 miles) east of the capital N'Djamena and 150 km from the border with Sudan. There were no immediate reports of any group claiming responsibility or making demands.

Kidnappings are rare in Chad, a former French colony in West Africa, but the remote eastern border area has seen decades of back-and-forth movement from armed groups, including rebels fighting the Sudanese government.